Markets reacted negatively to the latest musings by Fed chairman Mr Alan Greenspan on the state of the stuttering US economy. In New York the Dow Jones is weaker while in Dublin the ISE held steady mainly for technical reasons.
In his twice yearly address to the US Congress Mr Greenspan cautioned the US was still not out of the doldrums and hinted further rates cuts may be needed to jumps start the world’s largest economy.
The Dublin equity market had a mixed day with AIB down 2 cents at euro 12.92. Bank of Ireland gained euro 1.10 to euro 11.91 and IL&P posted strong gains in late trade to close 40 cents higher 13.70.
Irish technology stocks endured another miserable day as Iona fell euro 1.50 to euro 37.00 and Datalex fell 20 cents to euro 80 cents.
Other notable fallers were ICG down 5 cents at euro 6.45 and Kingspan, down 5 cents to euro 3.45.
Leading shares closed in negative territory, but off earlier late afternoon lows, as investors digested Mr Alan Greenspan's speech to Congress.
The FTSE 100 closed down 23.2 points at 5,404.6, above the mid-afternoon low spot at 5379.0 and below a high at 5431.9.
In New York negative earnings statements from several headline stocks and the Greenspan's speech testimony pushed Wall Street lower on Wednesday morning.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 57.10 to 10,549.29. The capital-weighted S&P 500 was off by 7.37 at 1,207.07, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite gave up 33.64, to 2,033.68.